Week 4-Worse than the total agony of being in love?

(Note: this post is less of a film review and more of a rant about why The Notebook is lame and Love, Actually rocks.)

I didn’t really like The Notebook.

There, I said it. I feel like I’m betraying my gender or something, but honestly, the movie didn’t really do much for me. And I didn’t particularly like the book either. I just found it TOO overly sentimental and loaded with cliches. I mean, how many times has the rich girl/ poor boy/ parents hate him/girl picks rich guy then leaves him for poor guy thing been done before? And that whole ‘I’m a bird’ thing was just lame. I’m sorry, but it was. You are not a bird, Rachel McAdams, you’re just some stupid chick with fifties hair flapping her arms around. I’m actually not a completely heartless cynic when it comes to chick flicks, though. My pick for the ultimate chick flick would probably be Love Actually. I watched it for about the millionth time a couple of nights ago- it is, quite possibly, my favourite movie of all time.

I think the British are just exceptionally good at romantic comedy-and Richard Curtis has written some brillant comedies-Blackadder,Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hil and The Boat That Rocked. They tend to have a good balance of snarkiness and sentiment so it’s cute, but not throw-up-a-little-in-your-mouth cute. And I don’t really know why, but I just love Hugh Grant, whether he’s playing an awkward-Englishman type or a womanising jerk. And Love Actually doesn’t really take a two-dimensional romantic fairytale approach to love, either. Yes, many of the storylines are romantic boy-gets-girl type things, but there are also stories about platonic love between siblings, between parents and children, even between lonely rock stars and managers. There’s even one that’s pretty much just about sex (remember the guy who went to America to get laid?) Another thing I like is the fact that they’re not all happily-ever-afters. Some of them work out, some of them don’t. So I guess I’m not quite the heartless cynic I make myself out to be. On the other hand, I’ll never be a soppy romantic Notebook-loving type, either. Just to prove it, I would like to end on one of my favourite lines from the movie, which has nothing whatsoever to do with love: ” Hi, kids. This is an important message from your Uncle Bill. Don’t buy drugs….become a pop star and they give you them for free!”

Week 4-Petrelli's Film Review: Garden State

Garden State (2004) 

 Starring: Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, Ian Holm, Peter Sarsgaard.

Director: Zach Braff.

Running time: 102 Minutes.

Genre: Comedy, Drama. Romance

 Life is not simple, family relationships, job, and lover, friends, sometime it is getting worse and out of control. But sometimes, one small mistake will change your life.

 Andrew Largeman, played by Zach Braff who is also the director of this film, He doesn’t like to talk to people at the beginning of the movie. He was return from LA where he is a part-time waiter. The reason why he came back was his mother’s accidently death. It is the first time in 9 years Andrew back to town. During the funeral, he meets his old friends. It is a small town, and everyone seems had a dream, that is become rich. Then, Andrew meets the girl Sam in the hospital, he started to change. The relationship with his father, I think they both had the same felling which is regret of his mother’s death. Because it was one small mistake

 The sound track of this movie has a significant effect in each of the scene in this movie. At the end of this movie, the song Let Go was really touched. It created an emotional atmosphere which represented the meaning of love between Andrew and Sam.

 About the camera angel, there are lots of close up shot. The audience can actually see the face of each character and really into it. When you focus on the camera angel, the camera took a close shot, the character always on the left or right of the screen, not at the middle of the screen. It remains me to think about the movie 2046. By using this skill, the audience will more focus on the characters instead of the empty place.

 The colour and lighting was really catchy but dark. Back to the scene which Andrew and Sam went to this warming swimming pool with his friend. The lighting was brilliant. It created a sense of fancy atmosphere. You can feel the love from the setting and the colour as well. The best scene to demonstrate this meaning will be the one when they seating in the bathtub.

 The camera movement always followed the bike from the shot which is really close to the long shot.  It used the movement which from the down to the top. The scene will be the last part of the film when the want to this valley and try to find the significant card. It is the way that the director wants to tell the audience how deep the valley is.

 Time to leave, every story has an end. For this, it seems to be sadness, but not really. After he got on the plan, he starts to think. It is the love inside of his heart.  Like what Andrew said when they both seating in the bathtub and Sam asked how do you feel now. Andrew said safe, like a home.

Week 4-Film Review: In the Mood for Love

Wang Kar Wai interprets the formal elements of filmmaking in his own way to make his productions be outstanding. He largely uses film techniques such as sound effect, visual design, literary devices, cinematography, montage and editing in his productions. The film In the Mood for Love is a typical example.

It is about a married woman falls in love with a married man in the 1960s’ Hong Kong. The bitter love experience is hopeless and both of the two main characters are struggling.

Wang Kar Wai always uses music to link different scenes in order to let them be more fluent and create atmosphere. Further more, music is also used as a communication tool between characters, characters and audience and linking the plots to tell the stories.² Two scenes are typical examples. Nearly at the end of the film, Wang Kar Wai cites an old song which is also named In the Mood for Love. The song sings about life is colourful but it is short. The song creates the atmosphere and plaint the love story of the two characters is beautiful but short. It presents the amazing love to audience. The other scene is the “acquaintance” scene. The actions of the characters’ are slowed down when every time they encountered on the stairs. The background music links those scenes to show their relationship develops from strange to familiar. The plots imply that the acquaintance and the love can not be avoided and this is fate.

The visual designs of most of his films are always excellent and contribute to the emotion of the films. If Ashes of Time is seemed like a traditional Chinese painting of the desert, then In the mood for love is a oil paint of a developed city. They both contribute to the mood of loneliness, struggling and depressive atmosphere. In the films, he uses light and shadows to create the atmosphere for plots and characters.³

 

One scene in In the mood for love is a typical example of showing the characteristics of Wang Kar Wai’s productions which mentioned above. The man tells his lover that he will go abroad and may not come back. By cinematography and acting, the character’s emotion is presented clearly as well. With the film music, the camera focuses on her hands movement in order to present her heartache while he goes farther and farther. Music suddenly stops. Wang uses montage to show that the man comes back. She cries on his shoulder. The man comforts her that it is just a joke. However, the camera turns to focus on the man. Audience can feel that he is serious and he will leave. There is only a little light in the corner. The man walks towards to the darkness. The darkness creates an atmosphere which is depress, unease and unknown. Therefore, audience now can be sure that they are in love and this love is hopeless. Many of the scenes in Ashes of Time can be seen as examples of using light and shadow. The killer is killed and his wife is sad. She stands in the water at night. The water reflects the moon light on her. By using the light and shadows, audience can feel that her sadness is quiet and lonely. It is very oriental.

 

Wang Kar Wai directs the film follow by the plots of the story but not the time. Time is broken into pieces. Such as Ashes of time, the film presents the killers’ story through the recalling of the characters. The recalling is out of order. Therefore, montage is widely used in his films and these scenes are linked together by monologues.⁴ However, it does not break the fluency of the film. Contrarily, incidents of the story are emphasized and impress audience. This technique is widely used in Ashes of Time. By the monologues of the owner of the thatching, the stories of his employees, his friends and his own are linked together and audience can feel that “life is fleetness that you cannot tell”. The monologue is always a kind of self-analysis in order to create images of characters and presents the inner of the characters directly. In Ashes of Time, the killer says that “I want to be strong because I do not want others are happier than me”. Therefore, the personalities of the characters are completely presented to audiences.

 

The monologues and dialogues appear as the form of adage and are estimated highly among audiences. In Ashes of Time, the killer’s friend says, “Although I like her, I do not want her to know. Because I know that the thing is wonderful because you can not get it. I know she is missing someone while she is looking at that child. I am jealous about him. I want to know the feeling of being loved by others. As a result, I hurt many people.”

All of his productions are about one theme which is the communication between people.⁵ It includes strange and familiar, accept and refuse, pursue and depress and escape to pursue freedom. His unique way of directing films is a development of filmmaking. Although he might not be the whole future of the filmdom, he does point a direction for the development of film.⁶